The Court Of Owls: Who Are They And Why They Matter

POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR NEW 52 BATMAN AND THE BATMAN ARKHAM SERIES OF GAMES INCLUDED

With rumours now surfacing of a new Batman game being developed by Warner Brothers Montreal, specifically focusing on Batman V The Court Of Owls, a mysterious shadow organisation running Gotham from behind closed doors. But who is the Court? Why do they act as they do? And what do they seek to gain?

First introduced in the “New 52’s” Batman #1, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Court was originally a legend that a young Bruce Wayne had asked his father about, who laughed it off. However, after the tragic death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce couldn’t accept that it was just a random occurrence, and believed the Court to be involved, leading to him attempting to prove their existence. This resulted in him being trapped in what he thought was a Court hideaway, a abandoned building with an owl crest, which was just in fact an abandoned social club. Bruce was trapped there till he was rescued by Alfred, and he put his beliefs about the Court to rest.

However, a murder of an unknown (the name given turns out to be false) brings back the memories Bruce has of the Court, as the tens of knives used on the victim are all emblazoned with the owl logo of the Court, as well as an owl symbol embedded in the victims wisdom tooth. This leads Batman on a case to try and track down the Court and find out what they want.

That’s how they’re introduced into the Batman universe, but who are the court?

Well, the court have been around for years, hiding in the shadows, designing Gotham into the city that they want it to be. They do this by implementing members of their organisation into positions of power, and assassinating anyone that stands against them and their goals.

The Court consists of powerful and important individuals, wealthy people or impactful politicians, and they use their power to change the city from the dark and dreary place they currently see Gotham as, and change it into a city that suits them.

The thing that makes the Court stand out from your usual shadow organisations (groups such as Hydra or The League Of Shadows) is the masks. Each member of the Court wears a creepy white mask that resembles an owl, and looks especially creepy when they’re seen leering out of the darkness in their meetings.

The court also has some of the most effective enforcers possible, in the Talons. These are corpses they have reanimated using Electrum, bonded to the cells of each Talon. They use large amounts of electricity to reanimate the corpse, who becomes a lethal and obedient, almost unbeatable fighter. The Court also has access to hundreds of Talons, making them more a small army than just a few undead soldiers.

We’ve seen the Court before in live action – They were the season 3 villains (or one of the villains) of the TV show “Gotham”, seen to be manipulating “Wayne Industries” behind the back of Bruce Wayne. We also saw the Talons in this, who were just as lethal as their comic counterparts.

So how would the characters be carried over to the game?

Well, that is a little more difficult. The continuity of the Arkham games has the Batman reveal his identity at the end of Batman: Arkham Knight (although a Demonic Batman was seen at the end), but it would make it very hard for Batman to fight when he’s already been revealed to the people (although, he is allegedly dead due to the Wayne Manor explosion at the end of the game.)

So, could it be a prequel? Well, the issue with that is that the game would have to end with the complete eradication of the Court, as there are no mentions of the Court in any of the prior Arkham games, so they would either have to disappear completely and never resurface, or be completely eradicated (unless they find a way of saying that they’re still in the shadows.)

How would I do it? I’d have them appear after the end of Arkham Knight, but I’d replace Batman with someone other than Bruce Wayne, maybe have Jason Todd take over to redeem himself from the events of Arkham Knight, and have him suit up as Batman, while having to fight other members of the BatFamily, who either believe they should take over the mantle, or don’t believe that Todd is doing the right thing.

Is this a game you want to see? How would you fit this game into the continuity? Feel free to comment below, or tweet me @CamenzuliDaniel with your answers or suggestions!

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About The Author

Nerdy and Northern, I'm an avid comics and games fan, who spends far too much time doing anything but my degree. Mainly sticks to DC, Marvel and Hellboy, but I'll write anything if it interests me. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @CamenzuliDaniel for more nerdy posts.